May 2017 Special: the 'been there done that' thread!

[Rustler74]

Who has got the T-shirt? Please get sharing xxx

Thanks rise, I think I feel similarly about induction/sections so it's helpful to see your thoughts.
And of course congratulations again

What a cutie Rise.
I'm glad you got time to think over what details were right for you after the initial shock of your first plan being a no-go.
I hope you're recovering without any issues. x

Ok so here goes with the birth story. Went for a nice long walk sunday afternoon. About 10pm that night started getting period pains, gradually getting more intense. Was able to take some paracetamol & nap in between. About 2am woke dh, he ran me a bath, which helped. All getting more frequent & intense. Rang labour ward & headed to hospital about 6am. When we got there, MLU was full, so had to go to central delivery which terrified me. The lovely mw made sure it was a pool room in case we couldn't be moved. On examination was only 1cm dilated & felt so upset - she was also back to back! Contractions were so intense & I started to panic, worrying how long it could go on for. Used hypnobirthing techniques, breathing through the contractions, listening to the tracks etc which really helped. Waters quickly broke - had a few showers which really helped. There was some light meconium in the water, so they increased her monitoring frequency. Next examined 4hrs later & I was 5cm! So chuffed. Was offered to get in the pool but felt I should 'save it' as felt I was coping OK. Carried on & my heart rate went up - they were worried then that they were struggling to know which was mine & which was baby's heart rate. Had to have monitor attatched to her scalp, which was fine. During that examination they told me I was 8cm! Unfortunately, this monitor (plus a bit too much blood in my waters) meant I couldn't use the pool or shower now - water was my main pain relief! At this point I was feeling a bit overwhelmed, despite gas & air (which helped). Asked for epidural which was AMAZING! Having it put in during contractions was just horrendous, but within 15 mins I was completely pain free, & able to rest for a good 2-3 hours. Heaven! Ended up with feet in stirrups (previously worst nightmare, but was fine) trying to push for an hour (not painful at all), but she wouldn't descend. Dr reviewed & was concerned I had been 10cm for a long time - wanted to take me to theatre for assessment for forceps (although she felt this wouldnt work) or c sec. I asked to proceed straight to c sec. Was in theatre within 10 mins. Was a difficult section, as she was quite stuck - had to be yanked out by her legs. She was in some distress & needed to be taken away for oxygen etc. When they pulled her out they rushed her to the resus table, but she wasn't crying. It was the worst minute or so of my life. They had sorted her v. quickly & she started crying - dh was able to go over to her & bring her to me briefly. She was taken to NICU to be cannulated & start iv antibiotics, but didnt need to stay there. I was in recovery, pretty out of it for a couple of hours - my heart rate & temp were up. Finally got to see her & do skin to skin & try bf - but was in so much discomfort she couldnt really lay on me. Taken to recovery unit & gave some formula, which settled her.

We are both still on iv antibiotics & in hospital- she is doing really well, now bf like a hero, but my recovery feels v slow - it wasn't a normal c sec - different incisions & positioning etc, and have been told I cannot have a vaginal birth in the future (which is fine by me!).

Although my story probably sounds traumatic, I actually felt it was a very positive experience. Every single member of staff was AMAZING - and I felt calm & in control despite the situation. Also, the postnatal ward is lovely too - so much help with bf/ latching / how to hold etc, which we wouldn't have had at home.

And she is so worth it!

Well done sipper!
And thank you for sharing, because it's reassuring to hear you had a positive experience overall even though it included really scary moments.

Wow, nice to read your positivity @Sipperskipper, you've inspired me to get this up!

So...typical of my pregnancy a few complications cropped up prior to delivery. I went to MAU on the eve of Friday 5th as I frankly just didn't feel right- braxton hicks were ramping up and I thought I might be leaking fluid. Was monitored, and got the shock of my life when they told me to ring DP and get my bag as I was in labour, so the baby would have to be delivered that night.
Problem being there were no beds...so I was back in the waiting room until 3am before they could fit me in. I dozed on the floor, thinking that wasn't quite the start I had imagined!
Once admitted, staff hugely apologetic and care was top notch- I was cannulated, monitor on and prepped for surgery, only for the contractions to slow by morning. Speculum confirmed my cervix was still closed, so I was offered the opportunity to go home and wait it out to see if I could reach my booked section date of the 10th.
So off home I go having thought I was going to meet him...slight head crash.
I make it to Monday afternoon having just returned to my house after a month staying at friends houses whilst building work slammed out, and feel blood trickling.
Back to MAU, and this time they said i wasn't leaving again without delivering.
Speculum led to rather big bleed, lots of big clots...cannulated again, and told he would be delivered either Monday night if either of us deteriorated, or first thing Tuesday. We get through the night, fasting again, to be told on Tuesday they can't fit me in to theatre, and we should try waiting until my slot on Wednesday again. By this time I've mentally prepared myself for delivery twice so mental state taking a bashing, but we hold out with no more major bleeding.
D-day comes, and I'm prepped with all the drugs again (antacids, etc). Was totally anxious by this point, not helped by having, amid a wealth of otherwise lovely individuals, an absolute witch of a midwife for delivery day.

Echoing other thoughts on here-theatre was quite overwhelming in scale and number of people. But everyone was so amazing, calming, gentle and reassuring. Spinal was really fine (canulas are worse!). Catheter painless, and the anaesthetist talked me through every stage. Delivery involved a lot of a pulling and rummaging sensation, like when you can't find something in the bottom of your handbag.
Baby was delivered within about 15 mins, and he kicked things off by boxing the surgeon! My patch up job took about 45 thanks to placenta. I had a bakri balloon fitted into my womb to act as a compress on the placenta site to stem bleeding as I lost a litre during the surgery.
Also like Sipper, I was informed that due to baby's breech position and the site of the incision being higher than normal, any subsequent births must be CS.
After initial lash out, baby was slow to respond and breathing wasn't great. DP cut cord and had a cuddle, but the decision was taken to get him to SCBU for monitoring and antibiotics. I cried at this point, as was given just 30seconds to hold him before he was wheeled away with DP, and I was wheeled to recovery.

Morphine administered and after a very long 30 minutes DP found me to say baby was ok but would be kept in SCBU- I sent him back there and was wheeled to delivery suite recovery. Unfortunately this is where the unpleasant midwife came into her own. She didn't speak to me, wheeled me into a side room and left the room without handing me the emergency call button or telling me where she was going or where I was. After some time alone and out of it my DP and sister (after much searching) found me.

Great news was that baby joined us shortly after- his breathing had regulated enough to be with us inbetween antibiotic doses.

Was taken to another 2 bed bay for continued monitoring, and attempted to feed. Midwife this time roughly pushed a pillow into my abdomen whilst showing me what turned out to be an unsuitable feeding position for post section. She was a nightmare. If I wasn't so fragile I'd have point blank asked her why she was behaving like that, but y'know, I could barely string a sentence together. Thankfully a change of shift came and with it a lovely midwife who saw me through the next night of blood transfusions as my levels weren't coming back up.
She also sent DP home for sleep, promising to look after us both, which she did.
Thursday morning and the bakri balloon was deflated and removed via vagina, and catheta out.
Day was a bit of a blur of morphine- by mid afternoon pain was dreadful, nothing was touching it-it was worse than immediately post op. Attempted to go to the toilet with two midwives lifting me but couldn't stand and began to black out. Was returned to laying down and tried to wee in bed pan but pain was so intense I couldn't get anything out.
Had an in and out catheter instead which released a good solid 750ml of urine and relieved the pain almost instantly- they think my urethra was in spasm hence not allowing me to pass it normally.
Was eventually taken to the regular post natal ward that evening, which was a shock to the system- the chorus of screaming babies was quite something! We had a fractious night, and a similarly fractious day but we were both given the all clear to go home late Friday night with an armful of painkillers, anti coagulation injections and iron tablets.
As echoed by all, it was gruelling but I would do it one hundred times over for him.

He's my world!

Wow Mighty. That sounds like quite an experience. I definitely recommend making a complaint to PALS about that midwife (once you're a bit more recovered) as it's just not acceptable behaviour.

p.s. What a cutey!!

@Sipperskipper well done! Glad you're both ok and positive even with a few scary bits!

@mightymouse76 what a sweety! Love the rummaging around for something in your handbag description!

@mightymouse76 super sweet boy - it looks like he's gonna be a heartbreaker 😍

Finally found the birth story page. Mine seems quite straightforward in comparison to some of these. Well done for everyone dealing with traumatic events even when it goes smoothly it can feel overwhelming.

I had contractions in and off from the Wednesday till Monday morning following sweeps on the Wednesday and the Monday.

From Monday evening I had them continuously but irregular and varying in strength and pain.

I went in on Tuesday at 9am contraction had been 5 mins apart for a couple of hours but I had previous fast deliveries so felt happier going in even if sent home.

Admitted to birth centre as it was empty and due to delivery history. Examined at 9.30 3/4 cm and again at 1.30 still only 4cm with irregular but strengthening contractions.

Contractions getting stronger throughout the day but varting from 5-20 mins. Examined again at 5.30 still 4cm! They attempted to break my waters but very little came out so they are unsure if they went earlier as I had been having pink discharge for nearly 24 hours.

Contractions still irregular but I felt something was happening got in the pool as the pain was so intense I knew delivery was close even though dilation was slow (same thing happened before)!

After an hour or so in the pool I was fully dialated! The pain felt worse than the other two but I wanted my body to do the pushing when it was ready.

Senior midwife left the room and I was with the student who had been with us all day.

My body decided it was time to push one contraction head was out student isn't allowed to deliver alone! So she starts shouting for the senior midwife. Second contraction body is out!

It was more painful as she had her arm up by her head and came bit sideways but I escaped with s couple of stitches.

The midwives were amazing and listened to what I said about preferences and with regards to previous labours! Every internal exam freaked me out that i would be sent home due to not officially being in labour or interventions due to slow progress.

My birth was a fairly straightforward MLU one but here goes.

Wednesday afternoon had a sweep, though midwife said she could only just access cervix, bishop score of 2, so not hopeful. Got back home around 3, felt very tired so had a nap. Was woken up from that by pain, which gradually ramped up in intensity. In the evening called MLU who advised we could come in to be assessed. Got there and was told I was 5cm so didn't have to go back home! That was a relief. Got in birthing pool for remaining 2 hours of first stage. Found it difficult to get in a comfortable position, started needing to push but little progress. Got out and midwife asked me to try and empty bladder, could not do at all. I then had a complete freak out after being told I was going to need a catheter, but managed to go on my own a little later.

Took seemingly ages to push her out (2 hours) - midwife was great at suggesting positions, I must've tried about 7 different ones in the room. Baby kept coming out a bit then slipping back in which was so demoralising. Was about 10 minutes away from needing ventouse but then she was born (I was on my back - never part of my plan!). Managed to avoid needing any stitches after. One thing that surprised me was how little difference gas and air made and I didn't use it much at all. One thing I'm really glad I packed was a straw as I was so thirsty throughout labour and it made it so much easier to drink.

The birth itself was straight forward - everything after just wasn't quite as hoped for.

I woke at 1.15am this morning with a really painful contraction that lasted about 30 seconds, followed by another about 2 mins later lasting 2 mins. Then I had one more lasting 30 seconds a min later. I went to the loo and found my lovely bloody mucus plug so called Triage. My sister and mum both had labours lasting less than an hour so we were told to come in. I continued to have 30 sec long contractions coming every minute or two and was at the hospital within 30mins of waking up. They examined me and I was fully dilated but I didn't feel the urge to push just yet so waited for that and used gas and air which made me really dizzy. I was made to feel a bit of a wuss for not pushing enough (but I guess I needed a strong talking to) and eventually gave birth at 3.07am. I couldn't use the gas and air during the pushing and due to the length of the labour couldn't have any other pain relief.

I couldn't stop shaking due to the adrenaline which no one warned me about so had a last minute change of heart from physiological delivery of the placenta and had the injection. Out it popped 5 mins later. Then I was examined and found to need theatre to repair my tears. I managed to feed baby before being wheeled off to theatre for a spinal anaesthetic at 5.30am and was eventually reunited with him at about 7am after another bout of the adrenaline related shakes.

Currently awaiting the joy that is removal of "packing" and a catheter. 😳😫

Stay strong @Barnes79! Wishing you a speedy recovery

Well done ladies! Hope your recovery goes smoothly.

I didn't have the best time... and nothing went to plan. disclaimer

Having been diagnosed with tokophobia I was scheduled for an elective section by my consultant.

However my water broke (in spectacular Hollywood fashion) at 36 weeks. I was admitted and largely ignored for 24hrs after I insisted on a c-section. I ended up in theatre 36hrs+ after my waters broke, having been in active Labour (everything I feared) and having had full on panic attacks. gutted gas and air doesn't seem to work for me!!

After the spinal I was found to be fully dilated so elected for episiotomy just to get it over and done with (theatre staff and surgeon were lovely). My placenta separeted in spectacular fasion and had to be manually removed in multiple pieces and I lost about 500ml blood. After brief skin to skin in theatre, LO wasn't breathing well and needed ABs IV as not born w/i 24hrs of water breaking. My DP had skin to skin throughout in NICU until I got him back in recovey. Thankfully LO crawled up my chest like a small caterpillar to try to latch on.

We spent 3 days on the post natal ward in a private room and I cannot fault the experience. The midwives were rushed off their feet but lovely and helped me breastfeed and diagnose a tongue tie (which the pediatrician wasn't worried about..). The ward was clean and the food was fine!

As an added complication I was found to carry Strep-B but as LO was already on ABs and infection markers OK we got to go home. We went by an infant feeding clinic at the hospital and had his tongue tie snipped (very simple and he cried for a couple of seconds before latching on).

A week later my lochia increased in the evening and included a couple of small pound sized clots so I went to the Labour ward to get checked out.

Shortly after arriving I started haemorrhaging and was over the course of a couple of hours given every drug under the sun including the kitchen sink but my BP dropped dramatically and I lost >2l of blood. This is when you see the NHS at their best!! The alarm went off and seconds later the room was full of people. I was given fluids and a blood transfusion and had an emergency GA to remove retained bits of placenta.

After 36hours I got discharged again and touch wood we have both been fine since. LO is feeding well and I have started to exercise a bit. Hormones are wonderful things and my baby is totally worth it!

I did a lot of research on breast feeding during pregnancy and had joined my local la leche league FB group. They gave me invaluable advice when I was struggling. Their website has a lot of great information on every conceivable problem. I also found that YouTube was really useful for seeing how to latch on, positions and laid back nursing perfect 3am studying . (Google images were also great when I suspected a tongue tie ). Managing to breastfeed despite difficulties have been a good way for me to "take back control" of the experience.

Gosh @crazyzooo that is an immense amount of complications for you to experience. I'm glad the breastfeeding is going well and you feel more in control.

Goodness me @crazyzooo that sounds awful, but I'm glad you're feeling back in control.

One thing I forgot to mention in my birth story was I had to have my waters broken as I was pushing but not getting anywhere.

Wow crazyzoo well done for getting breastfeeding established after all that.

You probably all know this but for the first timers who maybe don't you can ask for a debrief with a senior midwife if you feel you need to. If there were any bits you didn't understand 'why did that happen' or perhaps decisions were made quickly they can go through your notes with you and explain what happened and why.

Sorry I am so late in writing my birth story. Time seems to be flying by in a blur.

Contractions started at about 5pm on Wednesday night. They started off like period pains and bad lower back pains that came and went. I hadn't lost my plug or had any other signs that labour was imminent so was not overly concerned. By about 11pm they were coming every 7-8 minutes and lasting about 30 seconds. I tried to catch some sleep but ended up getting up in the small hours to sit on my ball and try to listen to relaxation tracks. By 4am the contractions were 3-4 in a ten minute period and each lasting about 30 seconds so I went to triage to be assessed.

Quick assessment advised contractions were regular but not regular in strength and I was only 1-2cm dilated. So we went home and agreed to come back when the contractions were all equally strong. The contractions continued in this manner, just gradually getting much stronger, for the rest of the day. Initially I used a tens machine for pain relief which helped as I had very bad back pain. This was because baby was half posterior and not moving down properly. By 2pm I was really struggling to cope with the pain and called labour ward. Was advised to get codeine so DP went on mission to GP's to get a prescription. By the time he came back (it took 1 1/2 hours) I was beside myself so we agreed to go back to triage. I think I was screaming in the car!!! I never thought I'd be a screamer!

Anyway we got to triage and the midwife was an arsehole. She basically told me I was not coping with the pain as I was a first timer. She put her hands on my bump and told me "your contractions are weak, they won't push a baby out" and "you're putting me in a difficult position because if I examine you, you will only be 2cm and you'll be demoralised". She basically told me to go home. I refused. She said the shift was about to change so she'd pass me onto the next midwife. So next midwife comes in, hooks me up to monitor and does an exam. Sure enough my contractions were to the top of the scale and I was 5cm! I was so relieved as was beginning to question my ability to cope!

So, 5:30pm I was admitted to labour ward and met my gorgeous midwife who was so kind, supportive and wonderful. I can't speak highly enough of her. She gave me gas and air (didn't help hugely to start with but after a period of time it made me woozy and I think that's when it worked) and helped me into the pool. By now the pain was intense and I was starting to panic a little. She explained it was because baby was back to back. Anyway, she offered sterile water injections which I accepted. Oh man did I scream when they went in! However the relief from the back labour was instant. I would recommend them. Quite quickly I started to experience overwhelming pressure down below. After a while I panicked again and asked for epidural. Midwife suggested she examine me first. She said I was 8cm and could feel the baby's head. Suddenly I felt a huge sudden dropping sensation which I think was my water going and baby finally dropping into the right position. After that my body started behaving differently. It was painful but suddenly felt productive - I can only describe it as bearing down - so I declined epidural. Time passed (I lost track of time, I only have vague memories of DP cradling my head in his hands so I wouldn't drown and giving me the entonox when I said "air") and I felt more of an urge to push. I focussed on letting my body do as it wanted and eventually felt the sensation of crowning. I reminded myself to breathe and not push. Suddenly her head was out. Midwife directed a gentle push after and out came the baby!!

I was thrilled and overwhelmed it was done! As a long standing tokophobia sufferer I have dreaded the pushing moment for as long as I can recall. In reality it was the bit of birth I found bearable as it felt like the end was in sight!!!

I then got out of pool for skin to skin and delivery of placenta. I also had some stitches for a second degree tear (again, not as bad as I imagined).

Sure labour was painful but I look back with a sense of pride that I did it after all those years of being so scared. It's true what they say too - you actually do forget the pain! I remember that it hurt but can't actually recall how.

Good luck to those still awaiting their arrivals. Xx

Congratulations mrscrocopop!

Am glad you had such a good birthing experience in spite of triage midwife not being very helpful or supportive.

Wow @mrscrocopop you have been amazing, thank you for sharing!

@mrscrocopop - I always read your name as coco-pops..!
Well done on standing up for yourself against the first midwife. Thank goodness shift change was due!!
I don't know where this rule came from that they stick to about not examining often - I think if you're requesting it (as long as it's not 5mins after the last one!) then you should get one. It only takes 2 mins, and it's not like we enjoy them either... Can the midwives among us enlighten me? (Maybe that should go on the main thread..)
Anyway - once you had your nice midwife it sounds like a nice calm birth! Thank you for sharing. x

Hi all, just popped in to share my birth story. All in all it was a fairly traumatic birth. Thankfully the baby is fine and I will be ok (getting there anyway) but just a warning in case you don't want to read.

I went into the maternal assessment unit on Monday evening at 7.30pm after a 3rd episode of reduced movement. I'd had a scan after the 2nd episode the week before which was fine but after the third episode the doctor suggested inducing me to be on the safe side.

I agreed to the induction and he did an internal examination to see if he could kick things off by doing a stretch and sweep. He found that I was already 2cm dilated. The sweep was so incredibly painful for me, almost as bad as labour pains later on which I wasn't expecting at all. I was then transferred to the induction room and was given a pessary around midnight and was told to try and get some sleep. I immediately started getting what felt like strong period cramps and didn't manage to sleep at all. By about 4am the pain was too strong to lie in bed and had to get up. I found standing against the windowsill rotating my hips helped the pain a bit. From about 5am I put on my tens machine which took some of the edge off the pain but was still quite bad. What I found quite difficult was that the pain was constant, albeit with peaks and troughs when the contractions happened but it was quite hard and upsetting to have no downtime to recover. I tried getting up and walking around with dh but was in quite a bit of distress by then.

I was finally examined around 8am and found to be 3cm dilated and was given gas and air which helped. I was then transferred to the delivery suite. As I was in constant pain from the contractions with no downtime I was getting exhausted and needed something stronger. I wasn't dilating enough so was put on a drip to carry on the induction. I requested an epidural which I wasn't allowed until my blood results came back which would take 1h30 so had an injection of pethedine in the meantime. Having pethedine was really strange. I was very out of it and felt quite. Dh remembers me saying something like I can still feel the pain but my brain is telling me I don't care(!) I don't remember a lot of what happened for the next couple of hours as I was still really out of it.

I got the all clear to get an epidural which really helped. I couldn't feel any pain when this was in which was such a relief. I managed to get some rest and continued to dilate at a normal pace. It felt like an age but I had dh with me and the midwives were lovely. I was lying on a bed strapped to the ctg the entire time as baby's heartbeat needed constant monitoring. I wanted an active labour with plenty of moving around so I found it quite difficult having to stay in bed in one place, and once the epidural kicked in I couldn't feel my legs much and had a catheter in so obviously couldn't move around.

I was found to be 10cm by about 2am and started pushing around 3am. It was really difficult as I couldn't feel when the contractions were coming because of the epidural and couldn't feel whether I was really pushing in the right place or not. By 3am there had been little progress and had been in labour for 24 hours and was exhausted. The decision was made that I should be transferred to theatre for an assisted delivery. I was taken to theatre but when I got there the theatre team were called immediately into another emergency delivery as apparently another woman in labour was fitting and needed a csection so I was left on the bed in theatre for about 1.5 hours while they went to operate on her. My contractions were stopped with an injection in this time. Although obviously an emergency is an emergency it was quite stressful to just lie there waiting and by this time I'd had so many drugs I was just immobilised and cold and couldn't stop shaking.

Finally the team came back in to assist my delivery. The drip was started off again to start contractions and I had to push again. I was given an episiotomy and the baby was pulled out. It was a really weird feeling as I could feel no pain but definite rummaging about while they pulled the baby out. The baby was taken away and started crying immediately which was a relief although it soon became apparent the there was something quite wrong with me. All the doctors and midwifes were looking quite panicky and concerned. I kept asking what was wrong but no one told me anything. They kept saying code red and calling in other people so it was really worrying. They brought the baby over to my dh who was sat next to me so I could concentrate on them but still wouldn't tell me what was going on. It turned out I had torn a lot internally and had lost a lot of blood from the episiotomy (about 2 litres in total) and was given a transfusion, a drip and stitched up. It turns out that they were worried as my blood pressure plummeted and my pulse went to about 145bpm.

When the stitching was done and bleeding under control I was tranferred to recovery where I had to stay all day. I was still fairly out of it and I barely remember the first time I held my baby because of this. I was given 2 more blood transfusions and several drops. I was completely immobile with a catheter, blood pressure cuff, drip, blood transfusion and both legs strapped to machines to prevent dvt.

Once the epidural started to wear off I regained feeling and realised I was in an enormous amount of pain so had to have several different drugs and morphine injections to cope.

In the evening I was transferred to the antenatal ward. I got no sleep that night as it was quite loud and I was in so much pain. The next day was difficult as the pain continued and was refused any drugs apart from ibuprofen and paracetamol, which to put it simply did little to nothing for the pain. The ward was boiling hot with loads of loud people and I was fed up with being hooked up to so many wires. I told them I was going home and they reluctantly agreed. I left at about 6pm.

Had a lot of pain in the evening and night. Finding it very difficult moving around and walking/rolling over in bed but am improving and able to cope on just over the counter painkillers now. I've found it particularly hard not being able to properly look after the baby as I find it hard to get up and move around so dh has been amazing and is doing about 90% of the work. Also I'm not able to breastfeed as I have no colostrum, likely because of the blood loss :( but we are bottle feeding for now, encouraging the baby to latch in the hope that milk will come in.

The birth was very different to the one I had planned by the baby is safe and well which is the main thing. I am recovering ok and trying my best to get up and about. It feels quite cathartic writing this down but all in all a very stressful and horrible experience. Having my lovely baby boy just about makes up for it.

Oh my word @ClaireSunflower ! Sounds very like my first delivery. It might take a long time to process all of that. I'm glad you're recovering and DH has been getting stuck in. Take care of yourself.

Birth Story

I have been monitored weekly for last 8wks due to previous high blood pressure in 1st pregnancy.
I also keep an eye on it at home as we have a BP monitor. On Monday afternoon I had a massive surge of nesting full of energy and afterward when I slumped I couldn't get a reading under 140/90, come Tuesday morning the bottom number wasn't going below 95 which was worrying me. I called triage and was advised to see my GP for a check over and protein wee dip and call them back. GP couldn't get BP lower than 160/100 and there was a trace of protein, so I went off to hospital for an hours monitoring. By the time I arrived there I had a + of protein and BP was over 140/90 and climbing over half an hour. A DR appeared and said she was admitting me for further pre-eclampsia test, prescribed a BP medicine to get my BP down and recommend induction that night. Stupidly I had gone alone to the hospital as my husband was away at a work meeting and I thought I'd be sent home after an hour.
The BP medicine worked and that was under control within an hour, blood test came back showing that my liver and kidney function was still good, so potentially it had all been caught super early before any damage could be done.
I had to wait around hours before they began induction at midnight with a sweep and a tablet behind my cervix. Within the hour I had some period type pains. About 4am I had a bit of an upset tum and then pains progressed to contractions every 1-2minutes by 6am. I was checked for the second time and was 2cm but waters would be breakable, they were worried that the tablet had hyper stimulated me and would move me to delivery asap to get my waters broken. In the hour it took to arrange that the pain ramped up another knotch and I started to panic a bit as was only 1cm, I was thinking I was going to end up in labour all day with all that pain and I would never cope. I arrived on delivery having negotiated that I really really wanted a pool birth, the wireless waterproof telemetry was available so the midwife agreed to let me go in the water after a hours monitoring and she had checked with a DR, luckily for me my BP was under 140/90 the whole labour and the baby was coping really well so I was allowed in the water. By this time I was starting to think there was no way the water would be enough pain relief as my waters hadn't gone yet and I presumed I still had hours to go because my waters were the first sign of labour with my first baby. I was getting a hell of a lot of downward 'urge to push pressure' with each pain that I really had to fight against and the midwives started discussing it wouldn't be long. I eventually got in the pool about 20 to 9 and felt immediately 150% more relaxed, I had a couple of contractions then within 5 minutes I had three contractions, 1st one waters went, second one head was out and 3rd one baby delivered.

I think I had been fighting against my body for the hour before I got into the pool as I couldn't get comfortable was sweating like a beast, vomiting and hating every minute of being on a CTG. I did manage to stay off the bed kneeling on the floor with a poor student midwife helping to hold monitors in place, they were wonderful but at the time I was so horrible to them!! I think the only thing I said to them was NO when they started mumbling about needing me to get on the bed so the monitor worked better and get off me when one of them tried to comfort me during a particularly bad contraction. I did apologise after for being so horrible to them. He was born at 9.05 so a three hour labour, 9hrs from beginning of induction.

On the whole I feel really positive about the birth, and feel very lucky that my body managed to pull off another quick labour even if it was the most painful thing I have ever experienced!!